USL Writers

Those That Crave Candy: Hansel and Gretel Retold (Gold Key in Humor) Sophie Bello, 8th grade I guess I should feel sorry for those kids after hearing their sob story, but I don’t. At all. The way they treated me was awful, and what did I do to them? Provide shelter and mugs of...Read »

Il Giardino (The Garden) (Silver Key in Short Story) Sophie Bello, 8th grade My name means ‘little fire’ in Italian, and I sure lived up to it. Even more now after mom left dad. I have quite the temper, and how my parents knew I would is a mystery, but they sure named me...Read »

Hailey the Unicorn Huntress (Gold Key in Humor) Sophie Bello, 8th grade My heart was beating in quick patterns as I began to run. The horse was dead ahead; oblivious of what it would soon become. I pulled the sharp horn off my tool belt and lunged into the air. The white stallion looked...Read »

Goodbye Ankles, Hello Socks (Honorable mention in flash fiction) Sophie Bello, 8th grade “What?” My eyes were wide with shock as I turned to the hunched over old man. “I have to climb up that mountain?” I miserably looked up at the perilously steep trail, leading to the treasure. The man, formally known as...Read »

The Fire (100 words) (Honorable mention) Alex Adragna, 7th grade As the fire fizzled out with a hiss, when it had finally finished consuming my house, I sat on the grass, staring. Because I had lost something that I loved. Something that I had vowed that I would love forever, at a church, in...Read »

We Can Change Animals’ Lives (Honorable mention) Ellie Manucy, 7th Grade Many people say that animal shelters are terrible places because the shelters sometimes have to euthanize animals. Lots of my friends think that the animal shelter is a bad place, but I’ve learned that it is not. This summer, I had a wonderful...Read »

Gourd Gore (Silver Key Winner) Alex Adragna, 7th grade October 2, 2012 Hello. Just so you understand why a lot of things are being smashed to bits in my story, I’ll give you a little bit of background information: I’m a pumpkin. A beautiful pumpkin at that, with a vibrant orange hue to my...Read »

A Wild Ride (Honorable mention) Alex Adragna, 7th grade Full of fear, the rabbit paddled and struggled, got its head up and took a breath, scrabbled his claws against rough bricks underwater and lost them again as he was dragged on. The rabbit desperately fought the icy current, but it was simply overpowered by...Read »

Were-Forest (Honorable mention) Allison Horan, 8th Grade I had had some pretty strange days in my life. But the day I found out what I was, what I could do. That was the most eventful by far, and it probably always will be. That morning I was a relatively average twelve-year-old girl whose goals...Read »

Paco the Puny Pumpkin (Honorable mention) Anne Adragna, 8th grade “Paco!” whispered the pumpkin next to me, nudging his side into mine, “Wake up!” “Why?” I sleepily muttered, feeling pretty confident that it was most certainly not daylight. When I groggily opened my eyes, the sky was just beginning to streak with pink, at...Read »

When She Falls (Silver Key Winner) Anne Adragna, 8th grade The soft clack of footsteps behind me was starting to become unnerving. At first I thought it was just coincidence that someone was taking exactly the same route home as I was, but then when I stopped to take my silver hoop earrings out...Read »

Talented (Silver Key Winner) Anne Adragna, 8th grade “They know! Run, they know! You have to get away, now!” those thoughts played over and over again in my already jumbled head as I fell asleep. Maybe if I hadn’t been so tired I would’ve been more alarmed by the last thoughts that ran through...Read »

Rise of the Planet Bad Movies (Silver Key Winner) Rory Corcoran, 8th grade This is the year 2040. The world changed much since 2012. In 2012 everyone feared the apocalypse was going to end the world, and that a new world was going to be formed. But nothing happened. We all survived through 2012...Read »

A Day in the Life of a Dog (Honorable mention) Rory Corcoran, 8th grade Dedicated to my two wonderful dogs Rooney Magoo Corcoran and Delilah Belle Corcoran, and in honor of Maggie Corcoran: February 28th, 1998 – July 2nd, 2012. Thank you for being such a great dog Maggie, Rest in Peace. Hi my...Read »

My Father (Honorable mention) By Olive Gardner, 8th grade “Sweetie,” My mother’s voice was choked and quiet and I braced myself for whatever she was about to say, “Your father is dead.” I sat down on the bed as tears began to appear in my eyes. “No, no. Dear god, no!” I collapsed in...Read »

Hate (Silver Key Winner) By Olive Gardner, 8th grade People detest me. When they see me they yell and spit in my face. I get into their minds and turn them against each other. They loathe me. Revenge – that’s what I want. I want to make them feel alone like they did to...Read »

The Evolution of Oedipus (Gold Key Winner) By India Manigault, 8th Grade I walked unsteadily along the rocky riverbank, with no real destination in mind. I was known as Oedipus, not after the famous tragedy, but because it meant “pierced foot” in Greek. Although my foot was not exactly pierced, I walked with the...Read »

The Shop by Jeanne Marie Martin, 8th grade IT WAS RAINING the day I first went into the shop, the little shop on Hickery Lane. It was small and rather cramped with the smell of must and dust, but it is my safe-house from the terrors outside. It was September 11, 2001. My dad...Read »

The Darkness of a Banana by Annabella Leone (7th grade) A BANANA. SUCH A SIMPLE THING. Yet when combined with the darkness of a million nights, and the evil of a twisted soul, it is no longer the sweet delicacy of which certain breads and pies are made. The foul fruit is more wicked...Read »

Tracked by Sarah Hand Sarah Hand is an eighth grader at University School of the Lowcountry in Mount Pleasant. This year (2012) her story “Tracked” won a regional gold key award which enabled her to enter national competition where she was awarded the silver medal in the scholastic arts and writing for short story....Read »

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THE BACH SOCIETY OF CHARLESTON is honoring Claudio Monteverdi’s 450th anniversary in its September 24, 3:00 p.m. program.

Monteverdi is recognized by music historians and theorists as one of our “great” composers. Though born in 1567 and composing during the Renaissance, his harmonic progressions reveal a strong sense of modern tonality. He is considered the father of modern opera and he was skillful in combining instruments and voices.

Monteverdi served for 22 years as viol player and madrigal singer for the Duke of Mantua, all the while composing books of madrigals and his first opera, Orfeo. Following the Duke’s death he was chosen maestro de cappella of San Marco, Venice, where he remained for the last 30 years of his life.

Ricard Bordas, Bach Society Artistic Director, has chosen a program that will include selections from two of Monteverdi’s most representative collections of sacred and secular repertoire, the Selva Morale e Spiritulale and the Book 8 of Madrigals of War and Love.

The program will include the motet “Beatus Vir,” the madrigal “Hor Che’ Ciel e la Terra” with lyrics by the poet Francesco Petrarca, and the gorgeous lament “Lamento della Ninfa.”